Under Cloudy Glass
by S.Hagen
Summary: In the city of Chiaroscuro the Solar Exalts Mina and Meep search the city for an item of great power. Contains mature, but not graphic, subject matter.


**Under Cloudy Glass**

by Shawn Hagen

Forward

This is the fourth Exalted story I have written, the other three and the order that they are probably best read in are:

Sparrow Hawk and Lightning ( s/8926901/1/Sparrow-Hawk-and-Lightning)

The Untruths of Time ( s/4292977/1/Untruths-of-Time)

To Stand once more in the Sun ( s/8661476/1/To-Stand-Once-More-in-the-Sun)

This story can be read without having read the ones above.

It may also be a good one to read first as I attempt to provide a more detailed background of the Exalted world than I have in the other stories.

* * *

Before the time of man, the city of Chiaroscuro had existed. The Primordials had laid its foundations, and the Dragon Kings had added to it, but it had been the Solar Exalted who had built it even larger, until it had been a vast, glass city of 22 million people.

The Usurpation had levelled the administrative and governance centre of Chiaroscuro, leaving behind a mile wide plain of golden glass where the great glass towers had once stood.

However, Chiaroscuro had survived, and remained a vibrant city and port during the age of the Shogunate, until the Great Contagion had killed 9 in 10 of the city's inhabitants, as it had killed 9 in 10 throughout all of Creation. Then the Scarlett Empress would turn the power of the Sword of Creation against the city, toppling towers full of corpses as she also destroyed those who sought to challenge her new power.

In time the hundreds of thousands of bodies decayed and went to dust and people returned to the city. It remained mostly deserted until the Delzhan horde-the desert nomads-took the city and made it once again one of the greatest city in the south (though most of it was still ruins-and it was only a shadow of what it had once been).

For all the deaths that had happened in the city it was amazing it was not all one huge Shadowland. Instead there were a handful of smaller Shadowlands, some so small you could walk across them in a few steps, some encompassing several blocks of ruined city.

Near one the slums of the new city was one of the larger of these Shadowlands, an irregular shaped area, a quarter of a mile across at its longest point. While many in the city had made some peace with the Shadowlands in their midst, this one, sometimes called Thane's Doom, had been shunned for as long as anyone might remember. Only the truly desperate lived close to it, and those pooled their meagre monies in order to have salt wards placed around it.

On a dark night, only a sliver of a new moon lighting the sky, two of the living had confidently stepped across those wards, for they had business in Thane's Doom.

Near the centre of the area, close to a mostly intact tower of red glass, they stood against a small army of hungry ghosts; ravening monsters, gruesomely marked by their horrible deaths.

Two women, back to back, in a pool of light cast by a small lantern.

One was tall, green hair tied up in buns, her skin a soft amber, eyes dark brown. She wore a short, red cheongsam; bare skin between the bottom of the dress and the top of her stockings.

The other woman was of average height, short black hair, pale skin, where not covered by a black, body hugging suit that fit like a second skin. Her eyes were blue.

In the hands of the green haired woman a serpent-sting staff moved with certainty, directed with a finely honed skill, the seven section, orichalcium weapon left hungry ghosts lying on the ground; skulls crushed, limbs shattered.

Like a shadow in her body suit, orichalcium, fist sized spiders fastened to her hands like small flames, the other lashed out at the ghosts, quick, precise strikes. Where the spiders hit, when she willed it, the spiders pumped their venom into the dead bodies. When that happened the ghosts erupted in golden flames, their spiritual corpus burning.

Serpent-sting staff lashed out, the sharpened tip on the end punching through a skull. "Meep, any thoughts."

"Well Mina," Meep answered, the razor sharp legs of her black widow razors nearly severing the head from one of the ghosts, "I was thinking of hiding and then watching you fight all of them."

Mina swept the feet of a ghost from under it and then stomped a sandal clad foot down on its neck. "Meep my dear, today's spankings will be with the paddle for that."

"Oh come on," Meep said, dodging a ghost, "it was just a jo..."

"Down!" Minna snapped.

Meep dropped to the ground, crouching low. Above her, like a whip cracking, Mina's serpent-sting staff spun about, the heavy metal staves crushing the bones and bodies of the ghosts.

"Take care of the trash, I'm going to deal with Thane."

She leapt forward, her feet crashing into a ghost, knocking it down, and dashed towards the open door of the tower.

Behind her she heard a 'whoosh' of fire and assumed that Meep had set another of the ghosts burning.

The interior of the tower was not completely dark, for there were some working lights within, thought many flickered, casting strange shadows all about. A ghost stumbled from a cross corridor. moaning. She grasped it across the face, forcing one thumb into an eye socket. Shifting her hips she drove it back the way the ghost had come, its skull shattering against the hard, glass wall.

She looked up the stairs the ghost had stumbled down from. More the dead were packed tightly in the stairs, moving towards her. Mina smiled, gasping each end of her staff, the rest of it hanging loosely behind her; she went up the stairs.

A hungry ghost went down, skull crushed. Another moaned as she drove the sharp tip of the stave into its chest, then, using it as a lever, spun the ghost about so it shielded her from the attack of another. She kicked straight up with her left leg, the toe of her foot hammering into the face of a ghost that had been about to bite her shoulder.

The loose segments of the staff behind her swung about, wrapping around the legs of a ghost. A shift, turn and a twist on Mina's part sent a ghost falling down the stairs, opening up a small space about her. The serpent-sting staff moved like its namesake, and Mina's own movements were equally smooth as she made the small space hers and denied entry to every ghost that approached her.

And then they were done, destroyed or their bodies so badly damaged they could not move. She kicked a body down the stairs, out of her way, and then continued to the top of the stairs.

The room beyond was large, empty, but for scattered candelabras and a single throne like chair. On that chair sat an ancient ghost, a Nephwrack. Grey skin stretched tight over bone, encased in black armour, a large great sword of black iron laid across its knees.

"What business do you have here breather," the ghost asked, its voice high and surprisingly melodic.

Mina looked the ghost over, snorted through her nose and then attacked, hurling one end of her staff forward, the staves snapping out so for a moment it was almost as if she held a spear.

Thane rose from his throne, his great sword sweeping out of to block the attack. Mina flicked her wrist and pulled back, the end stave of her weapon folding over to entangle the sword. She pulled hard, and when Thane pulled back to keep his weapon in his hand she leapt forward, using the ghost's own strength to aid her attack.

Her foot slammed into the Nephwrack's shoulder and drove him back into his chair. Her feet touched down on the armrests and she looked down at Thane. With a smile playing on her lips she flipped away, her foot slamming into the underside of his jaw with bone shattering force.

As she landed lightly on the floor Thane leapt from the chair, his lower jaw hanging loose from the rest of his skull. He screamed, anger, pain perhaps, and came forward, sweeping the great sword around. Mina lifted her weapon, catching the sword, turning it as she spun inside his guard and dropped one of her her weapon ends and kicked it up between his legs.

Her spin brought her behind him, where she caught the loose end of the weapon, wrapping him from shoulder to crotch in the orcichalcium staves. Pulling tight, she jammed a foot into the back of his knee and drove him floor. As he fell she twisted the staves so they caught one of his feet, and then rolled forward along his body, dragging his leg up behind him until his heel touched his shoulder with a crack of bone.

Thane howled.

Kicking to her feet, she turned, freeing the staves, and then brought the weapon down like a whip towards the prone Nephwrack. In spite of the ruined leg he managed to roll away, and the staves came down on the glass floor, cracking it. Hauling back on her weapon caused the end to snap back, hitting Thane hard in the face, tearing his jaw bone completely from his skull.

A garbled cry came from the ruined skull, a prayer to the underworld Mina supposed, as the room suddenly filled with a disgusting liquid, making the floor slippery even as the rushing filth threatened to sweep her feet from under her.

Thane rose to his feet, his broken leg swinging down, the bone grinding as he moved towards her, tongue hanging obscenely down from the ruined mouth as he continued to scream.

Mina swung her serpent-sting staff, the end snapping towards Thane, but it passed though his body, leaving him unharmed. His garble of victory was short lived however as the other end of the weapon shot up from under the liquid, taking him by surprise and shattering the knee of his still good leg.

As he fell forward Mina moved forward, the ends of the staves held in each hand. Her attacks were a blur, each hitting like a striking snake, and while Thane managed to let some pass through a malleable corpus, most hit his solid form, tearing into him. ripping him apart as golden lines of essence followed in the wake of her attacks, and on her forehead the caste make of the Dawn glittered.

"Don't ever come back ghost," she told Thane as the light in his remaining eye faded, "or I will find someone to end you permanently."

And then Thane was gone, leaving behind a pool of disgusting liquid, and his armour and sword.

Mina looked about the room and smiled for a moment, before looking at the liquid that had soaked her stockinged legs up to the middle of calves. "I am going to need a bath," she said absently, splashing through the mess as she went to stand upon Thane's empty throne. She watched as the stuff flowed away, down the stairs, leaving the floor glistening unwholesomely.

"This's disgusting," Mina heard a short time later. She watched as Meep carefully picked her way up the stairs. "Did someone pop a demon or something?"

"Just a little gift from Thane," Mina told her, stepping down from the throne.

"And I thought I didn't need another reason to hate ghosts."

"They will surprise you. Be a dear and find his treasures."

"Sure they weren't washed away in this crap?"

"The room was empty."

"Got ya," Meep said, and walked towards one of the room's other doors. She pushed it open, then jumped back as a hungry ghost stumbled out. Her clockwork spiders scuttled down her arms, grasping legs around Meep's wrists and hands, and were ready when Meep struck the ghost, setting it burning in golden flames.

"Watch out for the ghosts," Mina offered.

Meep laughed and nodded as she looked carefully into the room before entering. "I think this is it."

Mina followed, found Meep by a door. "Locked," Meep said, rapping it with her knuckles. "Think a combination, trapped too. Seems a likely vault."

"Can you open it with out being to obvious."

"Asks the girl with her caste mark showing."

"Girl?" Mina frowned.

"Lady, beautiful lady," Meep amended.

"Remember that Meep dear, and killing Thane is less likely to attract the attention we are trying to avoid, so the question stands."

"I can, open it, without too much essence."

"Good girl. Get to it."

Smiling Meep knelt down to examine the lock. From the black material of her body suit tendrils flowed out, hardening into the tools she needed.

"Trap first." Clever, agile fingers worked the mechanism and moments later brought forth a small device, the size of fist. She sniffed at it. "Poison is old, kill a mortal, not us."

The trap was put aside as attention was returned to the lock. There were several soft clicks over the next minute and then Meep stood and slowly pulled the door open, peaking inside, as if to assess danger, before throwing wide.

"Tah da!" she exclaimed.

"No one likes a show off Meep," Mina told her, but smiled and brushed a hand across Meep's bare cheek.

Within the room were many objects, things that the ghost had probably considered important. Some of it seemed more trash than treasure to Mina, but who could fathom the mind of a mad ghost? There was however a great deal of treasure.

Meep wore a small pack, and from it she took forth several bags of black silk. She moved amongst the items, picking out the most valuable, wrapping them, and putting them in the bags. Mina left her to that, for Meep had a finer eye for valuables than she. Mina was focused on finding their true prize.

"Look Mina," Meep said excitedly.

Mina looked to her companion, seeing that she held a sparking diadem, gleaming red and silver.

"Moon silver and red jade," she said happily, and then set it upon her head where it shone against her black hair.

"Very pretty. If you are good perhaps I will let you have it."

Meep smiled and took the diadem from her head and slipped it into one of her bags.

Turning back to her search Mina caught sight of something pushed towards the back of a small table, littered with scrimshaw pieces. It was a cylinder of teak wood about as round as her thumb and forefinger brought together, and nearly as long as her forearm. Each end was capped with silver plugs. "I think this is it," she said as she took it from the table.

Meep moved close, looking at it as Mina removed one of the plugs. Inside was a roll of paper like material, slippery, which made it hard for her to get a grip, but once she did it slid easily from the tub. Mina shook it out, letting it unroll, and held it up. The material was covered in Old Realm writing, with other notes in fire tongue added to places.

Not particularly good with either language, Mina handed it to Meep.

Holding it up, the scroll was nearly as long as Meep was tall, she looked it over, lips tight in concentration as she worked out the meaning. Finely she nodded. "This is what Pajou wanted." She began to roll it up.

"Good," Mina said, holding out the tube so Meep could slide the scroll back in. Once it was in Mina capped the tube and handed it to Meep. "Get anything else of real value. I am going to bundle up Thane's sword and armour, we'll take them as well."

"Right. And then what? Still a lot of night left."

Mina looked back at her as she stopped near the door. She smiled. "I think we'll see if we can kill every hungry ghost that Thane raised."

* * *

In Chiaroscuro there were places where the glass towers had not fallen, or where , while the towers fell, the lowers floors remained intact. These areas had become the old city, controlled by the Delzhan nobles, who lived in the extant towers, as did those who paid the nobles for the privilege of living in homes with lights, climate control, clean running water, and magical lifts that would whisk them a hundred stories or more to their suites.

Other towers, or their remains, might offer some of these luxuries, or in some cases none, but they were well built, and the Delzhan were sure to collect rents from those who wished to live there.

Outside of the old City most towers were in much worse shape, and the few that still stood, and the fewer that still offered any of the amenities of the First Age, were prized greatly, and jealously held.

In the new city, not far from the out-of-towners' quarter stood the Black Glass House, a five story tower named for the opaque indigo glass it was made of. It had been abandoned and empty since before the Great Contagion, for it was also known as the Tower of Ten Thousand Deaths.

Clever traps within the tower had killed all those who had entered the tower, who had hoped to claim it, or just loot any treasures that might remain. Over the centuries hundreds had died for every piece of loot taken from the first floor. Fifty years prior two Dragon Blood exalts, exiles, had managed to make it to the second floor, but only one had survived, bringing out with him a vase of adamant. A vase that had bought his way back onto the Blessed Isle when he had offered it to the Empress.

Others had tried, but no one else had succeeded in penetrating deeper into the tower.

Until the Solars returned.

Meep knew that the name Ten Thousand Deaths was exaggerated. There was in fact two hundred and seventy five traps within the tower, two hundred and seventy five traps that she had disarmed; in some cases multiple times for every day at dawn and dusk the traps would reset themselves.

She disarmed the traps that would have got in her and Mina's way, but left the others armed, ready to take care of anyone who might try to enter their home. After all, she and Mina liked their privacy.

On the fifth floor of the tower, in an office, Meep stood near desk, sorting through the various artifacts that she and Mina had recovered. The small collection did not represent the entirety of their acquisitions, in fact there were two rooms on the fourth floor that had been given over to holding their growing horde.

They did have plenty of space.

Meep picked up an orb of gold, heavy in the palm of her hand. It was made up of rings which could be turned, forming different diagrams, depending on how the markings were arranged. It was a key, or, more to the point, a plan of a lock.

Placing the orb back on the desk she reached for a knife, amongst a set of eight matched blades. There were etchings on the blades that, when the knives were placed together, formed a map.

A map to where she was not exactly sure, not yet at least.

She sighed as she lowered herself to the seat, but stopped just before she sat. Mina had been good to her word, and had in fact used a paddle, and for the moment Meep's bottom was still tender.

Exalted durability non-withstanding, Mina could certainly make sure that Meep was aware of when she had gone to far.

Not that Meep really minded. She smiled, reaching up to the golden collar around her neck, and turned to look out the windows, down at the busy streets below. No one knew that the Black Glass House was inhabited, peopled passed by, ignoring the building, or casting furtive glances at it, as if worried that they might be struck by the sudden desire to enter.

For a time the activity on the street below held her attention, until she heard the sound of the tower's lift. It would be Mina, returning from her meeting with Pajou. And if it where not Mina, well, that was why some traps were left armed.

"Meep," Mina called.

"In here."

Mina came into the office, smiling. She had a leather satchel with her and held it up. "We got it, and a number of other pretties."

"Any problems?"

"Well, Pajou seemed to have trouble remembering he had promised me free pick of his collection." She smiled. "I suggested perhaps I might see if the Tri-Khan would be interested in the scroll."

"I suppose he didn't like that."

"No." Mina moved to stand beside Mina, gently brushing her cheek. "Almost challenged me to a duel. Came to his senses. But," and she shook her head, "bastard suggested their might be taxes on what I took."

"He's an idiot."

Mina nodded. "Prayer scroll of Tamas Khan and he wants to quibble. Still," she reached into the satchel and removed an object in a leather sheath, "we have what we wanted." She placed it in Meep's hands.

Meep untied the straps on the leather and removed a rectangular piece of golden glass, edged with bronze. It was amazing, the way it caught the light, glowed as if lit from within. For a time she simply stared it, enjoying the beauty of the glass and the way it felt in her hands.

Mina reached out and twined some strands of Meep's hair in her fingers and then gave them a gentle tug.

Shaking her head Meep took a deep breath, mumbled, "I'm sorry," and held the glass up, turning it until she could see the old realm characters that seemed to float within the glass.

Opening a desk drawer she took out some paper, ink and brushes and was about to sit before stopping and standing straight again.

Mina was smiling.

Looking to the glass, then writing, she copied out the characters from the glass. Once that was done she set about deciphering them. A thief did well to read many languages, but Meep was not yet fluent in the ancient writing.

While she worked she heard Mina taking other things from the satchel, placing them on the desk top. She was curious, but she kept her attention on her work until she finished her translation.

"I see," she said, and then opened another drawer and pulled out a pile of notes. She found a map of Chiaroscuro, it was ancient, showing the city as it had been laid out in the first age. "Co-ordinates would put it roughly about," she traced her finger across the map, "here."

Mina looked on and said, when Meep's finger had stopped, "The Field of Gold."

"The Field of Gold."

"It wasn't in the buildings was it?"

"I don't think so." She picked up the golden glass again.

"Because the buildings are a mile wide plain of glass now."

Meep nodded. "Under them, I think, maybe."

"Tunnels likely filled with glass now."

"Not the deeper ones."

"Deeper ones? Ancient subways, maintenance tunnels, basements and underground admin and support facilities, the city is probably bigger underground than it is on the surface."

Meep nodded. "We'll need a map."

"A very good one," Mina agreed. "Flau probably has one is his collection."

Meep swallowed, and looked at the glass she held, the slight tremble in her hand. She carefully put it down and looked up at Mina. She was smiling, but Meep knew there was no joy in it, and a muscle was twitching in her jaw.

Reaching up she put her hand on the side of Mina's face. "We don't have anything to trade with Flau."

"I was not thinking of trading with him." Mina put her own had over Meep's, holding it against her face. After several seconds the twitching along her jaw ceased and she relaxed. "I really do hate them Meep," she said softly.

"I know. But Tristan said..."

"I know what Tristan said Meep." She released her hold on Meep's hand and stepped away. "I am the one he told it to. However we are hitting something of a block here. I think that maybe it is time to put aside subtlety."

Meep moved closer. "We can't."

Mina looked down at her, reached out and grasped the ring in the collar that Meep wore, gave it a gentle tug. "Can't?"

Dropping her gaze she said, "I'm sorry Mistress."

For several seconds Mina maintained her hold on the collar, then let it go and walked away, leaving Meep alone in the office.

Meep dropped down into the chair, ignoring the discomfort that sitting caused and put her face in her hands. "Damn, damn, damn," she said softly.

She tried to work, but the various pieces would not come together in a way she could make sense of, her mind in such a mess. She turned the chair and tried to watch the people below, but their lives could not hold her attention.

Turning back she opened one of the desk drawers and pulled out a roll of un-dyed, rough silk. It was tied closed with a black ribbon. Freeing the knot she spread it open, revealing a small collection of silk undergarments. each carefully stitched to the silk backing.

A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth as she gently ran a finger across a dainty pair of blue panties, trimmed with lace. "You were a hard one to steal," she said. "Sleeping priestess of Ahlat, surrounded by all those warriors. You were still warm when I slipped you free."

For a time Meep was able to put Mina's displeasure from her mind, or, more to the point, let it move to the back of her thoughts, where she could pick it apart, without thoughts of Mina's disapproval paralyzing that process.

Finally she rolled the silk up and tied it off, returned it to the drawer. Standing, Meep went in search of Mina. She found her in what had probably been an Atrium, for the glass in the walls and roof let bright sunlight shine in on empty planters full of hard packed dirt and dead plants. The wide space provided Mina with the room she needed to train. She spun about, her serpent-sting staff flashing about her, an extension of her body.

Moving in the sunlight that made her green hair glow, her cheongsam, so wonderfully short, teasing Meep as it promised to reveal more but never did. She was so beautiful. No wonder the Sun had chosen her, and the thought was coloured by a little bit of ridiculous jealousy. "I love you so much," she said softly, and then, louder, "I will kill them all for you!"

Mina stopped her training, her serpent-sting staff coming to rest. "You will?"

"All five. They'll die badly. I promise they'll know who killed them. And not a hint of a tangle in the Loom, so Tristan won't complain."

Mina took a deep breath, then put her weapon aside, laying it on the edge of planter and walked towards Meep. With a sudden burst of speed she swept Meep up in her arms. "I am not ready to turn my little thief into my little assassin," she said, and kissed her. "We'll talk it over, see what Tristan has to say." She carried Meep to the bedroom, sat her on the bed, and then removed Meep's robe, leaving her unclothed but for a black band around her right forearm.

As Mina removed her cheongsam Meep lay back on the bed, and the black material flowed along her arm, until it covered her hand like a glove, and then it all flowed into her palm, so she was holding a ball of strange black material. Turning her hand she allowed it to fall to the floor.

Mina stood at the foot of the bed, clad in only her panties and stockings. Meep looked up at her and said, "Trying to steal your panties was by far the best thing I ever did."

"And I still have not finished punishing you for that." She got onto the bed and moved along Meep's body, capturing her wrists, drawing them up above Meep's head, and then tying them off with soft piece of rope attached to the head board.

Meep gave an experimental tug at the bindings that secured her hands, feeling the strength in the rope and the integrity of the knots. She smiled up at Mina as her mistress ran another of the ropes through the ring on Meep's collar.

* * *

The Undermarket was an old subway station, from the days when subways actually ran under Chiaroscuro. Essence powered lights cast dim illumination around the irregular shaped plaza. The people who came there came armed, or with bodyguards. Everything was for sale there, stolen goods, illicit services, even pain (most often the pain of someone else).

Near the offices of the Guild factor an old man had rolled a food cart close to a wall, under one of the brighter essence lights. His cart had only three seats bolted to it, and at the moment all three seats were occupied, (a man having just taken a seat) providing no one reason to come close.

Mina sat on one of the outside seats, drinking a tall glass of shochu: distilled buckwheat. She had her serpent-sting staff with her, and wore a black, trimmed in gold, cheongsam, longer than those she usually favoured.

Meep sat beside her, dressed in a manner more local, wearing a long cloak over loose silk pants, and silk shirt that left her mid-rift bare. Somewhere hidden under clothing was the black artifact that could clothe her, and her paired black widow razors.

To the other side of Meep was the man who had just sat, slim, handsome, of average height, dressed in a grey suit. His skinned was tanned, and he wore a neatly trimmed goatee, had dark brown hair with a hint of white at the temples. Had he been mortal he could have between anywhere between thirty and forty.

Leaning up against the cart beside him was a staff, covered in a sheath of the same material as his suit.

"You young ladies are a sight for eyes that have too long been denied your delightful countenances," he said, smiling, as the cart's owner placed a glass of shochu in front of him.

"Charming as alway Tristan," Mina said, drinking back the contents of her glass.

"Hi Tristan," Meep said. She had a cup of tea in front of her.

"So, I take it from your summons that there are matters which you wish to delineate."

"We found most of the pieces, but we need a detailed map of the undercity."

"We thought you'd have one."

"You ladies do me far too much credit."

The old man placed bowls of goat meat, cut into strips and fried, in front of them and then went back to his small grill, tossing chopped vegetables onto it.

"Can you get us one, cause otherwise we are going to have to go after Flau."

"Ah, Flau, and his sworn brotherhood of able and loyal protectors. Five terrestrials. It would bring you great delectation to execute them, would it not my dear Mina."

"Yes," Mina said, her lips twisting into what might almost be called smile.

"I can kill them all, not a single essence flare," Meep told him.

"And you do not think that perhaps the death of a sworn brotherhood of Dragon Bloods, massacred, apparently by mortal hands, would not attract some attention? I believe that I made it explicit that attracting such scrutiny would be ill advised. It would be manifest to anyone that looked that a Night Caste was behind it."

Mina leaned over Meep so she was closer to Tristan. "We are aware," she said. "As we know that you have not been completely clear with us."

"I am at a loss to apprehend the point you are trying to make Mina."

"You know what we are looking for, and you know where it is. You would have to, but you have sent us on all these hunts for bits and pieces. What is your game?"

Tristan smiled.

Mina frowned, and she thought she might take a swing at the man, but she felt Meep's fingers take her hand under the counter.

Calmly she told him, "We have been working on this and hit a wall we are not able to just knock down. Tell me what you know, or Meep and I are done."

Tristan reached into his jacket and removed a cigarette case of beaten silver. He offered it towards both Meep and Mina, who shook their heads in response, then fitted one of the cigarettes into an ivory holder. After lighting the cigarette and drawing in a lungful, he said, "There are facts that you need to be cognizant of, when looking into the affairs of Sidereals, to understand the complexity of my actions." As he spoke the smoke flowed from his mouth and drifted above his head.

"First of all, I know less than you fancy. I have an inkling of what we seek, and a very approximate idea of where it might be found, but in all honesty, I suspect your work has given you a clearer notion as to where it might be than I.

"Second, the truth of the situation is that the only way a secret might be maintained is if only one individual is aware of it. However, a true secret is always available to Jupiter and those that serve her, and as I do not enjoy a positive relationship with those individuals at this time I do not wish this information to be available to them."

"So you have already told someone. You can tell us as well."

"That is in fact true Mina, but there is another axiom that a prudent Sidereal always keeps in mind, and that is two people are a conspiracy, three people are a conspiracy with a traitor amongst them."

"You're paranoid," Meep told him.

"Likely that is a fact, but I am also alive and successful, whereas others who have endeavoured to tread a similar path to mine are currently dead, so please allow me to keep things, for the moment, as they are."

Mina said nothing, then waved her hand to attract the cart owner's attention and pointed to her empty glass. "We will need a map."

"And I cannot get you one."

"And that all leads us back to Flau."

"Sadly that may be the direction that we must tread." He paused. "However, on thinking of this, there may be another approach. There is, among the ruins of this city, an old office that belonged to the Chiaroscuro Transit Authority, fortunately outside of the old central administration section, for had it been otherwise it would be molten glass."

"And why would this office be of any use?"

"It would be a location in this city to find the maps you desire at this moment, and it is protected well enough that the material in question may have remained untouched."

"How is it protected so well?"

"While I cannot say for certain, having never visited the location myself, testimony from survivors, often delivered in a panicked and pained tone, has suggested demons. Now, do keep in mind that I did not interview any of those survivors, and the last time anyone attempted to plumb the depths of that office, as it were, was almost fifty years ago."

"Demons?"

"Demons."

Mina leaned back on her seat. "Normally not a problems, but this place in inside Creation, right?"

"That is in fact the situation."

"Damn. This puts it on your shoulders Meep."

Meep smiled at her. Mina felt her heart beat race slightly, or perhaps she imagined it.

"So I either assassinate some demons keeping my essence damped, or I just sneak by 'em all, pick some locks, and steal what I need."

"It may be harder than dealing with Flau's dogs," Mina told her.

Meep gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "It'll be fine."

"If you do manage to exterminate all the demons it might profit you to remove everything of value," Tristan told her. "Otherwise it will look somewhat anomalous."

"I'll look around. If there's a lot of good stuff there we can go back later and get it all." She smiled again at Mina. "It'll be fun."

Mina nodded. "It will be."

Sebastian signalled for another drink, perhaps giving them a moment of privacy. Mina leaned forward to gently brush her lips against Meep's. It was as quick motion, but one that left Meep looking pleased.

"You are sure the maps are there?" she asked Tristan.

"I am as certain as I can be, having never visited the place myself. However, considering the nature of the work of the Transit Office, their need for detailed maps of the underground is almost guaranteed."

"Your decision Meep," Mina told her.

"I'm going, I'll get the maps."

Tristan took a drink from his glass, put it down and said, "Then it appears as if our next course of action is decided."

* * *

Meep wondered if demons got bored.

Crouching in a small bit of shadow up in a corner where wall and vaulted ceiling met she watched a pair of blood apes look about the huge room. She gave them a moment or two of thought. How long had then been there? Did summoned demons get to trade out with others? She was a little uncertain about the nature of sorcery, well, a lot uncertain, but she supposed that one demon was as good as another. As long as they were protecting the place they had been set to protect, it should not matter if it was the same demon originally summoned.

Pointless bit of meandering thoughts, she decided. The demons were not likely to tell her, and she did not know anyone wise enough in such matters to ask.

The Transit Office had been easy enough to enter. The upper levels were ruins, but underground it had held up well enough. She had squeezed through the broken remains, into an old access tunnel that had led her to a door. It had been rigged with an alarm and locked, neither of which things had slowed her much. There had been a demon standing guard beyond, but it had not seen her.

Like a ghost, no, even quieter, she had made her way through the lower levels, where once the real work had been done. There were tools there, strange devices long ago used to maintain the underground transit system. Likely worth a fortunate and quite useful, if they could be liberated.

Today would not be the day for that. Today no demons would meet their ends at her hands. Today she was the thief of her first life and not the assassin the nature of her exaltation sometimes required her to be.

Below her the demons moved away, knuckling forward on their heavy hands. Once they were gone she descended from the ceiling, on a thread of black spun from the very outfit she wore. When her feet touched down silently on the glass floor the thread was retracted back into her clothing.

The room looked to be some kind of armoury. Buff jackets and breastplates, made of or with the steel hard Chiaroscuro glass, lined one wall. Beneath them were crossbows, fed from rotating drums. She wondered for a moment why transit workers might have needed such things. She also calculated the value of it all in her head and the result made her smile.

She padded across the floor, to an office, the steel and glass furniture within still in good shape, even after centuries of time. Locked cabinets were not an obstacle, the picks she needed flowing from her black suit, flowing back when she was done.

Most of the paper within had gone to dust, or was brittle and broke when touched. She began to worry that any maps that might have been there would be in similar condition.

Then she found the plate of crystal. She knew what it was, having seen such things even before she had exalted. Crystal books, storing their contents within the crystalline structure and readable by using ones fingers to scroll along its length.

She did so, running a finger, the material of her suit flowing back to leave the digit bare, along the cool surface. Old Realm characters flashed by, as did diagrams, and oh yes, most certainly a map.

Smiling she tucked the book into a pocket that formed in her suit, then went in search of more.

* * *

The sake was sweet, strong, and Mina drank a mouthful before putting the clay bottle down. She rested in the shadow of a cracked tower, half of it collapsed, the other leaning off at a severe angle. Amazing it had not fallen after all the years since the Usurpation and the Great Contagion.

Across from her shelter was the broken mound of glass that had once been the transit offices. Meep had gone in there at sunrise. It was now close to noon, with the sun overhead beginning to bake the ruins.

If Meep did not come out by the time she sun had crossed past its Zenith Mina might go in herself, to the Yozi's Hells with the noise it might make or attention it might attract.

Her musings on her rescue were interrupted by the appearance of a woman, walking along the broken road. It was somewhat odd to see anyone in such a place; while not one of the most dangerous spots in the city, there were threats. Most people avoided such ruined areas, unless in a group, or well able to take care of themselves.

While Mina herself was aware of the dangers of judging by appearances (knowing she herself did not look that dangerous) she thought the woman did not appear to be the sort who could take care of herself.

She looked plump, with rounded limbs and large breasts. She wore a dress with a skirt that brushed her knees, and left her arms mostly bare. Clunky ankle boots with a short heel that were probably decent enough for the terrain. She carried a parasol with her, and a large bag hung over her shoulder.

Cafe-au-lait skin and blonde hair, and, Mina saw as the woman turned to look at her, blue eyes.

"Hellooo there," the new comer called out, waving, then starting across the broken ground. "Fancy meeting a fellow scavenger here."

Mina made sure her serpent-sting staff was ready, but made no obvious moves towards it. "Good afternoon," she said.

The other woman stopped a good ten feet away, a distance respectful enough, and not threatening. "I'm Del Pret, and, by your hair and your delightful dress, you would be Mina."

Mina relaxed slightly, for she knew the other woman, by name and reputation, if not before by sight. "I've heard of you. You brought in that wagon of artifacts about a month or so back."

"Yes," she said, smiling, "that would be me. If you are looking to purchase any though, I'm afraid that they all sold."

Mina smiled and shook her head. "No, I was not."

"That's good to hear then." She looked about. "My dear, far be it from me to advise another scavenger, but you aren't thinking of making a trip into that are you?" She turned and pointed towards the ruins of the transit building.

Mina brought a finger up to her face and tapped it on her lips. "Cannot say for certain."

"Oh, no, you shouldn't. The place is dangerous. Strange beasts prowl those ruins."

"You have been in there?"

Del Pret looked shocked. "No, no, no." She shook her head. "Certainly not, but I've heard stories of those that have, or from those that knew them, for supposedly no one has ever gone in and come out."

Mina smiled. "Someone has to be first."

"Not the likes of us my dear. No, not us." She shook her head again. "Still," she shifted her shoulder so her bag moved and with the movement a clunk of something heavy, "we can do alright with a sharp eye."

"Care to join me for a drink Del Pret?" Mina asked, relaxed.

The woman looked up at the sun, then shook her head. "Too early in the day for me dear, and I have lots of work to do. Need to get back to my workshop and fix up the little darlings I found today."

"Don't let me keep you then."

"Of course," she said, and turned as if to go, then turned back. "You will remember what I said, won't you Mina? To not go in there."

"I will do my best not to forget."

"Good. Good. Well, must be off then." And that time she did turn and leave, walking along the road with a swing of her hips, and the occasional half stumble as her shoes proved not completely up to the terrain.

"She's a character," Mina said softly.

"Do you like big breasted women Mistress," Meep asked from behind her.

Mina, having grown used to Meep showing up as if from no where did not display any of the surprise she felt, and managed not to spin around. "Pardon?" she asked Meep.

Meep was sitting in the shade, Mina's jug of sake in her lap. "Do you like women with big breasts? I think I saw you staring at Del Pret's bosom. Her bottom as well. I know," she ran her hand down her chest, from neck to abdomen, "I'm not so blessed."

Mina smiled, Meep, in her second skin of black was beautiful, and she said as much. "I have always found your breasts and other assets more than up to the task. And it is not as if we need you to nurse a hungry baby."

"I am glad to hear that Mistress," Meep answered, smiling back.

"Now you naughty thing," Mina said playfully as she walked over and dropped to sit beside Meep, "you have better not been wasting time, hoping to make me worry." She took the sake jug from Meep.

"Never. It just took some time to get what we needed." From a pocket in her suit she drew forth six crystal panes. "Crystal books."

Mina nodded. "I've heard of them. Never seen one before." She took one and looked at it. "How does it work?"

"You run a finger along it, up or down, to move the text. A little like flipping pages in a book."

Mina did as Meep said and watched at the information scrolled across the surface.

"If you keep up at that one it'll show you a section of maps."

Mina waited until she found the maps Meep had mentioned. After looking them over for a few minutes she said, "Good. Let us head back home, we can go through these in detail and start making plans."

* * *

The Field of Gold, a mile wide section of rolling, golden glass, remained one of the sections of the city that was left empty, with no attempt made to build upon it. Unlike other sections this had nothing to do with Shadowlands or lands tainted by the energy of uncapped demanses. It did not even have to do with the area being too far from any useful part of the city.

Even during the cooler times of the year, by midday the field was baked blistering hot, and no one but the foolish would try to travel on it during the day.

Attempts had been made to break the glass, to clear it away, at least in small areas, but the golden glass remained inviolate to whatever forces the people of the city might bring against it.

In its own way it was a testament and reminder to the great things accomplished in the first age. A testament that brought in the curious, who wished to see this wonder. There was always something of a carnival atmosphere around the field, as tourists and those that sought to make a living off them gathered.

Mina walked along the edge of the field. She had seen it before, but every time she came to look at it she was amazed and a little humbled, wondering about the world of the First Age.

She wore her customary cheongsam, today's white, with silver highlights, in deference to the strong sun. She was making her dress maker in Chiaroscuro rich she knew. Feet in slippers, her serpent-sting staff left behind (carrying orichalcium weapons openly in public places was simply asking for trouble). She was carrying a seven section staff made of ordinary wood and steel, for not having a weapon could also be asking for trouble.

Beside her Meep walked along with a carefree step. She wore a pale green sundress that dropped to the middle of her thighs, and a white, wide brimmed hat against the sun. Strappy sandals on her feel 'shuff shuffed' against the road with each step. Her orichalcium spiders were hidden somewhere on her body, ready scuttle down to her waiting hands as soon as she needed them.

Mina envied her friend and lover those weapons, except for the fact they were spiders. That was just creepy.

They passed a small group of several children and adults, most of the adults looking like obvious guards, except for one with a scholarly look, his dark clothing and cape apparently uncomfortable in the late morning heat. And it was only the last days of months of Wood, Mina thought.

The scholar's words reached them as they passed, "...knows what happened here. However when the Anathema were finally defeated by the Heroes of the Dragons the entire sector was reduced to molten glass, as you see. I suspect the Anathema lost control of their stolen power when they tried to resist the power of the Dragons."

Mina's jaw tightened and her hand right hand dropped to touch the end of her seven section staff.

Meep's cool fingers reached out and touched her bare arm and Mina took a deep breath, calming herself. "Thank you," she said softly.

Behind them one of the children asked, "But why's all the glass here gold when it's not gold anywhere else."

Hope you choke trying to answer that, Mina thought, but pressed on, not really interested in hearing the scholar's answer.

A short time later Mina stopped and looked towards a food stall. "I am going to get us something to eat."

"Okay," Meep said. "I'll be waiting over by that building."

"Stay out of trouble," Mina told her with a smile, then walked towards the stand.

A young woman, her hair pulled up in a scarf, a greasy apron over a faded dress, tossed strips of lamb into a pot of hot oil. She wiped her hands on a piece of cloth and asked, "What can I get you Miss."

"Two of the wraps," Mina told her.

She watched the woman spoon rice and vegetables onto flat bread, and then finely diced fried lamb. After sprinkling the contents with oil she rolled them up neatly and wrapped them in faded but clean cloth. "Here you go Miss."

Mina dropped a bit of silver into the woman's hand and then took the food, walking towards where Meep waited.

She passed a group of Delzhan, young men, rough housing and daring each other to run across the Field of Gold. They paused as Mina walked by, appreciative glances, noting her weapon. One of them, wearing a grey sash, stared a little longer, a littler harder than the others.

When Mina had passed by their conversations started up again where they had left off.

Meep was sitting in the building's shadow, her hat resting on the ground beside her.

"Here you go," Mina said, handing Meep one of the wraps.

"Thanks."

Mina stood, while Meep remained on the ground. They ate the wraps, Mina watching Meep take small, precise bites, chewing several times before swallowing. Mina bit off larger chunks, chewing and swallowing as if she thought someone might take her food away: by-product of older brothers she supposed.

It was a melancholy thought and she hardly tasted her food as she ate it. Meep was still working on her food when Mina finished. Mina used the cloth wrapper to clean her hands and wipe at her mouth.

Stepping out from the shadow she took a few steps forward, up onto a hump of golden glass on the edge of the field. Mina could feel the heat through her slippers, and in the air around her, but it would be a sad chosen of the Sun who would be inconvenienced by that.

"Towers, hundred of floors high, air craft swooping between them, the whole city lit up at night. What do you think it was like when we ruled?" she asked softly.

"Well," Meep said from behind her, "you don't know if whoever had your power did 'rule' here, and, how'd you know I wasn't in charge here?"

Mina smiled, and turned to look towards Meep. She held her hand out.

Meep folded what remained of her wrap in the cloth, grasped her hat, and jumped to her feet. She took Mina's hand, putting her hat on at the same moment . With a gentle pull Mina had Meep up on the glass beside her.

"So tell me Queen Meep, how do you envision your kingdom?"

Meep leaned in closer to Mina, still holding her hand. "Well, first, all my people were happy and productive, for they knew they were under the gaze of the Unconquered Sun during the day, and that in the night, I watched them."

"So you were a Night Queen," Mina said, gently rubbing her thumb over Meep's hand.

"I was," Meep said with a nod, the brim of her hat flopping a little. "Beautiful and terrible."

"Watching them from the darkness."

"I wasn't a pervert," Meep told her. "Well, she probably wasn't."

"A pleasing difference from you," Mina said, giving Meep's hand a gentle squeeze.

"I'm not a pervert. I'm a collector."

Mina smiled, shifted her hands, so her right held Meep's hand and her left slid around her shoulder, pulling her close. She whispered in Meep's ear, "Am I going to have to punish you for lying."

Meep stiffened in her hold for a moment, then said, her tone soft, "I suppose you might call me a perverted collector."

Mina laughed softly. "So Queen of Darkness, where was I in all of this?"

"You were my pet tiger, kept for when violence was needed," Meep said.

"Oh ho, so I was the pet? This Queen of Darkness must of thought well of herself." She shifted her hand, took a lock of Meep's hair and gave it a gentle tug.

"Well, she was a Queen and her Dawn would have just been a General," Meep said.

"Just a General?" Mina fingers traced over the soft skin of Meep's throat, where she often wore her collar.

Meep, not dissuaded, continued with, "March the armies out to focus an enemy while all the enemy leaders are assassinated behind the main lines."

"This Night Queen was clever."

Meep nodded.

"Thank you," Mina said.

"You're welcome Mistress."

Mina, happy, looked out over the Golden Field. "Can you get through that?"

Meep shook her head. "It's not a door or a window, it's just a thick sheet of nearly indestructible glass. We're going to have to go deep and come up under, just like we thought."

"I was hopeful that we'd have the option."

Meep shook her head.

They stood there for a time, before movement caught Mina's gaze. The Delzhan she had seen earlier, the one with the grey sash, had run out on the glass and was heading towards the centre.

"Foolish young men," Meep said.

"That one is a woman," Mina said.

"A Dereth," Meep said, "and he'd," she stressed the word, "wouldn't appreciate you suggesting otherwise."

"Are you lecturing me?"

"No, just reminding you."

Mina shook her head. "I do not understand it."

"That's why I'm here to help you. Strange customs and cultures don't throw me as much."

"I suppose," Mina said, stepping from the glass and helping Meep down. Taking her hand she walked along the edge of the field, looking towards the dwindling form of the runner, wondering if she, he, was going to make it.

A wind whipped up from the west, carrying a smell of the sea, a tang of salt. Mina lifted her free hand, the cloth from her food blowing in that wind before she released it to drift over the golden glass.

"Your big bottomed girl friend is following us," Meep said.

"Pardon?"

"Del Pret. I saw her at one of the stands."

"She could just be purchasing something, and she is not my girl friend, at least not yet."

Meep pursed her lips into a pout and Mina laughed. "Well, we will have to keep an eye out then, in case she is following us." She gave Meep's hand a gentle tug. "Let's go and review those maps. I want to go either tonight or tomorrow mornig."

* * *

Somehow the underground ways of Chiaroscuro had fared better than the structures above, whether by planning or luck, few in the age of Sorrows could say. And, while it was away from the sun, there were those that made their homes and lives down there, the Undermarkert was just the most organized.

There were dangers beneath the city, however, and much of the ways were only travelled by those strong enough to survive what was down there, or those unfortunate enough to believe they were.

Three sets of rails, made of the same nearly indestructible glass as the rest of the city ran through the domed subway tunnel. There were places where the tunnel showed signs of past collapses, but not so major as to block those who would travel along its length.

Meep looked around, watching, wary, but only a little. The tunnel they were in was safe enough, close to the inhabited areas of the underground, valuable enough for someone to pay armed guards to patrol it every few days.

They passed other people down there, gave everyone a respectful enough distance. At one point they walked through an old station. Up on the platform a small village had been built, under the still working lights, and there was a subway train there, next to the platform. Through grate covered windows in the subway cars Meep caught sight of elegant furniture and well dressed people.

Likely the leaders of the small settlement.

Men with spears stood on the platform, watching as they passed, but made no move to impede them.

Farther down the tunnel other things worked and lived. They passed a group of hobgoblins, painting upon the walls of the tunnel in the flickering light of torches and oil lamps and bobbing fey lights. The scaly hobs watched them, but made no move to attack or interact.

Meep guessed the Fair Folk Nobel they served wished to keep good relations with the city, or at least this part of it.

"I think it is up there," Mina said, several minutes after they had left the painters behind.

Meep nodded, and reached out, taking Mina's hand for a moment, giving and receiving a reassuring squeeze.

Ahead they saw the dark mouth of an alcove. They had passed many of them, service entrances into the tunnel, but those had not been the one they were seeking. Mina feel behind Meep and opened the small pack Meep wore, removing something before closing the pack up again.

Stepping ahead once more the broke the seal on a glass flask, shaking it until the thaumaturgical contents glowed and illuminated the area around them, brighter than faded lights of the tunnel, but not too bright.

With that light she looked at the old realm writing that marked the alcove. "This is it," she said, freeing her serpent-sting staff so it was ready. She held the light away from her body, looking into the alcove, ready to shift back into the cover if necessary. "Empty," she said a moment later.

Meep moved forward, slipping off the pack and removing the poncho like shirt she wore. Underneath her black suit covered her like a bathing suit, but was already creeping long bare flesh to fully clothe her, head to toes.

She kicked off her shoes as the suit flowed down her ankles and looked at the space. Empty, but for a few pieces of detritus and a faint, old smell of stale urine. She knelt and grabbed up the pack, scooping shirt and shoes into it before sliding it back on.

The door at the end of the alcove was locked. Meep looked the the mechanism over, and with a small probe that her suit produced she examined and and removed the broken end of an old lock pick. "Others have tried to get in here," Meep said, looking at the pick. Small bits of corrosion marked the material. "Been a while since anyone tried though."

Mina stood behind her, but was facing the other way. She did not ask if Meep could open it, which Meep appreciated. Her sarcastic responses to such questions only got Meep in trouble later.

The material of her suit extended into all the tools she needed, and she worked the complex lock, tickling the tumblers into place and triggering the tiny essence receptors that would have foiled less skilled thieves. With a torsion bar she turned the mechanism, and then with her other hand grasped the door lever and pulled.

Three deadbolts slid smoothly back into their reinforced housings and Meep pulled the door open just a little, but braced herself against it, in case anything tried to come out. "It's open."

Mina turned and reached out to grasp the handle. "Get behind me," she said.

Meep moved, watching their back, and giving Mina the room she would need if there was a fight.

However, nothing waited beyond the door, save stairs leading down.

The door locked behind them, and they started down the stairs, Mina leading, Meep a few steps behind holding their light source.

The staircase descended twenty steps to a landing, and to their left another set of stairs. Twenty stairs and another landing, and another set of stairs to their left. Four such staircases and they had transcribed a square and were eighty steps lower than where they had begun. There were five more such flights before they finally reached the bottom.

The stairway had been empty, for for a few pieces of garbage, and at one point an old, broken leg bone.

The doorway at the bottom of the well was not locked, in fact was not completely closed, for a bit of twisted metal was between the door and the jam. Mina stopped and looked towards Meep. Meep slid around her and crouched by the door. From her hand a tendril of black oozed from her suit, between the jam and the door. The suit flowed across her face and over her left eye, covering it like a patch.

Meep was able to see what was beyond the door, an image transferred from one part of the suit to another. There was a large, dimly-lit, space beyond, filled with conduits and various construction materials that must have once been used to repair and build the city's underpinnings.

It was no doubt worth a fortune, were there anyone who could find away to move it.

She also saw movement. something big, dashing between the cover offered by construction materials, moving closer to the door.

Meep drew back from the door, the black of her suit oozing away from her eye, the vision tendril withdrawn back into the suit.

With a series of simple hand gestures she indicated what she had seen to Mina. Mina nodded and readied her serpent-sting staff. Meep, seeing the decision, only had to think it and her golden spiders crept down her arms and fastened themselves around her wrists with their rear legs, the fore legs stretching out to form razor sharp blades.

Mina stood by the door, listening Meep supposed, standing still, looking like a snake ready to strike. Then with a movement so fast Meep almost missed it she kicked the door open. It swung out and slammed into something that cried in pain. Then Mina flowed out the door, like water down hill, weapon lashing out. Meep heard the sound of metal hitting flesh, another cry of pain.

Following Mina she got a good look at their hunter. It was large, as she had noted before, nearly the size of a draft horse, and it had a feline body structure, long and limber. Long, pointed muzzle, teeth jutting out from it like a snagle-toothed saw. It lashed out with that muzzle, trying to cut at Mina. There was no hair on its body, skin the colour of old meat, covered in a tracery of scales.

A paw, tipped with claws the size of daggers lashed out at Mina, but she turned it with one of her staff's sections, then kicked the paw, in the place where small bones joined longer ones. It howled.

Meep ducked in close, careful to avoid the rear paws, slashing it deep across the upper legs, slicing deep into muscle, spinning aside to avoid a lashing tail tipped in bone spikes.

Some kind a wyld muntant she thought, darting in again, cutting deep, hamstringing the rear, left leg, or maybe a constructed guard beast. As she ducked and rolled away she was certain it was no natural beast that lived in Creation.

At its front Mina looped her staff around its already damaged front leg, then jumped up, rolling across its shoulders, yanking hard on her staff, pulling the leg up against its body, taking away its stable stance, and, a moment later, pulling it over.

The thing went with it, rolling over, trying to crush Mina with its weight. Meep jumped away from a kicking rear leg, feeling the air rush by her face from the claws.

Mina turned, feet shifting, maintaining a stable stance as she used the beast's own motions to wrap her staff around its neck.

It tried to fight, but one leg was already trapped, and both rear legs had been damaged, stealing its strength. It attempted to whip its tail about at Mina, but came up a little to short. As breath was lost to it the struggles became weaker and weaker until it finally went still.

With a twist of her staff Mina snapped it neck.

They both stood there for a time, catching their breath, looking around, waiting to see if anything else would appear; if the noise of the creature's death would bring others, but it was quiet.

"Solitary hunter maybe," Mina said. "Or guard beast."

"If a hunter nothing's going to come into it's range you think?"

Mina nodded, and freed her staff from around the beast. "Not likely. If this can hold a range we might not face anything too strong. Guard beast, might be others, or only this one."

Meep nodded as her spiders scuttled back up her arms into hiding.

Mina looked off into the shadowy distance and started forward.

Meep followed after, keeping and eye on their back trail.

* * *

The underground was no forest Mina thought. No small creatures to feed larger ones, not even plants. She was more and more certain that that thing they had killed was a guard beast. While it was possible there might be more, she though they would have already been attacked if they were numerous and close.

She was wary, watchful, but moved easily through the tunnels, taking note of her surroundings; the equipment and materials. It meant little to her; she was certain it was valuable, but knew it would take a lot of manpower to move any of it.

Sometimes they would pause, and consult one of the crystal books, looking at the maps on it, then continue on. In such a manner did they thread a path through the underground passages.

They were closing on what the map showed as a wide, open area. Mina felt a faint breeze blowing towards them, carrying a scent of, to her surprise, water.

"Douse the light Meep," she said softly.

"Got ya," Meep said. Mina heard her working with the the thaumaturgical device, and a moment later it went dark, leaving only the faint illumination of ancient light strips that ran along the ceiling.

The two of them stood there, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the new gloom, then Mina started forward again. A large, open space and water might mean some sort of ecosystem, which could mean large predators, including people. No need to walk in there with a light pinpointing their location.

stepping from the corridor into the space beyond Mina did not see any signs of an ecosystem, just a huge room, better lit than the tunnels that preceded it, but still most of it was lost in shadows.

Ahead of them was a huge body of water, still and black in the dim light, stretching into the shadows. They stood at the base of a small jetty, a gondola floating at the end of the walkway.

Meep took a step forward, but Mina put a hand out to stop her. "No," she said softly.

Meep halted, waiting.

Something moved in the gondola, shifting, standing, a person, possibly a woman Mina thought. The woman moved from the gondola to the walkway. "Hellooo my dears, I believe you have something I want. If you would just give me what you took from the transit office I will let you be on your way."

"Del Pret," Mina said.

"I knew she was following us." Meep took a few steps away from Mina's side.

"I must apologize for my actions, but I am certain I am more suited for continuing on, though I must congratulate you for making it this far."

Mina watched the woman as she got closer. Not enough light to be certain, but the skin looked more greyish green, and was covered in strange devices, many of them looked as if they were part of the woman: pressed against her limbs, covered in fake skin, it might give the illusion of plumpness.

"What are you?" Mina asked, shifting her right foot back, taking her weight off the left, ready to move.

"Don't worry your little heads about that, just give me what I want, and I won't hurt you."

"No," Mina said.

"Well, I did offer."

Del's movement was fast, snapping from her hip, hurling a chakram that 'whirred' as it streaked towards Mina.

It probably would have hit her in the arm, Mina thought, snapping her hand out, deflecting it. Razor like blades spun around the circumference of the disk, like some kind of saw, but a the moment of contact Mina's skin was hardened by essence and she was unharmed.

The chakram arched back into Del's waiting hand. "I suppose I should have supposed that you were more than talented mortals," she said. "I am sorry, it looks as if I will have to hurt you."

She came fast, another chakram in her left hand. Using them like knives she swept them out in long, spinning attacks, forcing Mina back. They moved so fast the air whistled in their wake.

Falling back, as if retreating towards the corridor behind her, Mina waited for her opening. When Del was over extended for just a moment Mina shifted, like a snake, feet sliding over the ground as she side stepped the next attack and lashed out with the end of her serpent-sting staff.

Del managed to bring one of her chakram up to catch the attack, but the force of it knocked her back a step. A piston in her shoulder drove her arm back, this time putting Mina off balance for a moment.

Coming forward Del snapped her hands out, the chakram's saw blade teeth spinning around the circumference, promising terrible wounds if they were to contact.

Golden essence flared around Mina's weapon as she caught both weapons along one stave length, stopping them cold. Dropping one end of the weapon, letting it snake around Del's lower right leg, Mina pulled on the weapon, yanking the woman's leg out from under her. As Del fell Mina swung her leg up and brought her heel down, with not an insignificant amount of force, on Del's chest.

She was pretty sure she heard some crack, but it was not the familiar snap of bone.

So much for keeping her essence use down, Mina thought.

"Now I am cross," Del said, kicking onto her feet. Then she stopped. What she said next surprised Mina. "I surrender."

Mina, ready for an attack, did not lower her defence.

"I surrender," Del said again, letting her weapons drop to the ground.

"That's a good call," Meep said, appearing as if from nowhere, the blade of one of her black widow razor's pressed against Del's neck.

"Oh," Del said. "I forgot about you. I surrender to you too."

"What the hell are you playing at?" Mina demanded.

"You are a Solar," Del said.

"What?"

"You're glittering Mina."

"Oh."

"I cannot hope to defeat a Solar, especially one of the Dawn Caste. Surrender is the best option. Please do not kill me."

"Who are you?" Mina asked.

"What're you?"

Del was careful in her movements. "I am The Delightful and Precise Mechanism of Truth, Del Pret is short for that."

"Very short," Meep said.

"Like you I am Exalted, but I am an Alchemical Exalt from Autochthon." She paused. "Alchemical Exalts serve the needs of the Great Maker."

"Where is Autochthon?"

"It is not a land of Creation. To keep things short, though some precision is sure to suffer, my country needs help. We have come to Creation seeking answers. I believe that the Solars may be our true hope. The Solars of old are gone, but many wonders they constructed remain, to a lesser or greater extent. I am in this city to learn what the Solars of old were capable of, so that I might understand what you will become capable of."

Mina said nothing as she considered what the woman said, trying to make some sense of it.

"So why are you after us?" Meep remained close to the woman, weapon still at her throat.

"I thought you were simply talented scavengers who had come upon the trail of something that would be of interest to me. I wanted to see it. I had no idea you were Solars. You have hidden it very, very well." Her tone almost making it sound like a reprimand.

"What do we do with her?" Mina asked Meep.

"Take me with you," Del said. "Please. I wish to see what you seek."

"That's crazy."

"I am inclined to agree."

"I have no interest in these artifacts other than to see them. I make no claim. I just want to see what it is, please."

"And if we say no?"

Del looked thoughtful. "My dears, I cannot beat you, but that is not to say I cannot hurt you before you destroy me. It will inconvenience you, certainly. And, as I have noted, you have been very good at concealing your natures. Were you to fight me, I think you might, well, blaze forth?"

Mina looked the strange woman over. She shifted her gaze to Meep. "What do you think?"

"She's not lying."

"I am not, no. However, to be fair, I am not certain that you could tell if I was."

"She's not lying," Meep repeated.

"I suppose Solars might indeed know if I was lying. Still, it would take some testing to be certain."

"Shut up," Meep said, and to Mina, "I think I can cut her throat before she does anything."

Mina shook her head. "She can come with us. I am curious, and she knows how to fight."

Meep stepped away from Del. "Always one for the quick decisions Mistress." In spite of her words she was smiling.

"Pick up your weapons. Do not make me regret this."

Del knelt and grasped her chakram, then, as she stood, secured them to her belt. "You won't, I can promise you that."

Mina looked about. "How familiar are you with this area?" She looked to Del.

"This side of the water, I know reasonably well. Beyond that," she looked across the water, "I have not yet gone."

Mina walked to the gondola, looked down at it, put her foot on it and gave it a push. It seemed solid enough. Del had followed her, Meep behind her.

"No oars or pole," Meep said.

"It is automatic," Del said, moving forward, kneeling down. "You see the switch."

"Does it work?" Mina asked her.

"I have not yet tried it. I think it would. It was well built."

Mina carefully helped Meep into the gondola (not that she needed it, but it gave her an excuse to touch the other woman). Del paused, as if waiting for similar treatment, but only for a moment. She climbed in. Mina stepped in, took a seat near the bow. "Well, let us see if this works."

The knife blade switch moved easily, clicking into place. The gondola started forward, moving slowly at first, as if to avoid upsetting the occupants. It sped up a little, soon moving at the speed of a fast walk.

"What'd you think all this water is for?" Meep asked.

"Emergency christen perhaps, in case of drought."

"Oh, I don't think so," Del said from the stern. "Likely it is a storage pool for cooling water. When this place was active it would have generated a lot of heat, you see."

Mina looked towards the strange Exalt, taking note of her excited tone.

As with most of her choices Mina had not allowed Del to come with them without a great deal of thought; as quick as her decision might have appeared. It was useful to have an unknown close, where Mina could watch her. Even if she and Meep had managed to chase Del off without killing her, or getting themselves hurt, they would have had to worry about her being behind them.

It would also give Mina a chance to see what an Alchemical Exalt was capable of. Del's explanation suggested there might be more, and therefore they represented a possible threat to Creation.

And while Mina believed that Del was telling telling the truth, she was certain that it was not the complete truth. She was looking to see what the Solars of the First Age were capable of, certainly, but if she found something that could be of use to her land, this Autochthon, then she would fight to claim it.

So Mina would be wary and knew without saying anything that Meep would follow her lead.

"Might I ask you something?"

Mina looked towards Del. "What?"

"Well, as I said, the Exalts of Autochthon are created, but I understand with other Exalts you are chosen," she paused, "except for the Terrestrials, which is carried in the blood. I was wondering if you could tell me how you were chosen?"

MIna's hand on the side of the gondola tightened, knuckles going white.

"I was chosen for stealing panties," Meep piped up.

Mina relaxed slightly as Meep defended her, as she often did, and she smiled fondly at the other woman.

"Panties?" Del said. "Female undergarments?"

"Yes," Meep said happily.

Mina gently cuffed Meep across the back of her head. "You were not chosen for stealing panties. You were chosen for sneaking into the Imperial City and breaking into the Scarlett Empress' bed chambers."

"Which I did to steal her panties," Meep said. "I am sure the Unconquered Sun appreciated that. They were so wonderful, the pair I chose, red silk, a touch of lace, a bit of cotton, a hint of her scent on them." She shook her head. "I lost them in my escape. Exalting in the middle of the Imperial City is not for the faint of heart."

"You know," Mina leaned in, putting her hand on the back of Meep's neck, caressing it, letting her hand trace out where the collar would be, "I am not sure I like the way you talk of that woman's undergarments."

Meep had the grace to look a little embarrassed.

"I see," Del said, unaware, or at least seeming unaware, of the lovers' tiff taking place in front of her. "So you are chosen for accomplishing something great. Already heroes, given great powers, littler wonder you accomplish great things." She nodded. "Probability is on our side of course, but we can never be certain." It sounded as if she was talking to herself.

Mina was considering asking her what she meant, and took her hand from Meep's neck, but stopped, lifting her head. "Something is coming this way," she said.

The three of them shifted in the gondola, the relaxed, mostly, postures changing, ready.

What came from the darkness ahead of them was another gondola, empty, moving towards them.

"One on each side," Del said, "exchanging places."

"That's stupid." Meep shook her head. "Take forever to move people around."

"That might be the point," Mina told her. "It is a good defence."

The other gondola passed them, continued the way they had come, vanished in the darkness.

"We are halfway across, more," Mina said.

"This place is huge." Meep stood and looked around. "I wonder how deep it is?"

"Deep," Del said. "The bottom is at least as far from us as the ceiling."

"Think anything lives in it?"

"Doubtful, it's cold and devoid of simple life."

Meep stood looking down into the black water, and then back at Mina, smiling.

Mina reached up, grasped the pack Meep wore, and drew her back down so she was sitting at her feet. "No," she told Meep.

"Later?"

"Maybe."

Del watched the two, then looked over the side of the gondola. "I suppose there could be something stored in the depths. Cold and dark," she said thoughtfully, "not a bad way to preserve and protect things."

"Do not encourage her," Mina said.

They rode in silence, Del lowered her hand into the water, a thoughtful look on her face.

Eventually, out of the darkness ahead, the quay appeared, the gondola slowed, and then stopped, perfectly positioned for ease of egress.

Three dark alcoves were in front of them, leading from the room.

"The one on the right," Meep said.

"I'll take point," Mina told her, starting forward.

"After you," Mina heard Meep say to Del.

The corridors beyond the vast reservoir were to Mina's gaze, a little more wild. She heard and saw small animals, rodents. Lowest level of a food change she thought. Or maybe the highest level. She was a little more attentive, knowing there could be dangerous creatures down there.

Sometimes they stopped to consult the maps, or for Meep to open doors. Once they came upon a large room that looked as if once people had lived there. A long time ago, Mina thought, a sheet of canvas like material crumbling away at her touch.

Mina noticed the air growing warmer before she saw the light growing brighter. Then she caught the scent of growing things.

She looked back, more to Meep to make sure she was aware, but she saw that Del had noted the changes as well.

The corridors grew wider, and then light brighter. Mina stopped, in front of her, along the edges of the corridor, was what looked like grass.

Del stepped forward, curious, kneeling down to look at it. "It is a crystalline structure," she said after a moment, "flexible but sharp. I suspect we are approaching an uncapped demanse."

"Wyld freaks," Meep said.

Mina stepped by Del. "It is where we have to go."

There had been a number of underground manses that had provided the essence energy that had powered Chiaroscuro, few had survived. Uncapped demanses, flooding the areas around them with raw essence, changing them.

There had been a manse there once, Mina thought, stepping through crystal grass that cut at her slippers, into a vast space, now there was a forest.

Trees grew there, black trunks with crowns of pink, like cherry trees in spring bloom. The trees provided the light, each glowing brightly. The ground was covered with the grass that would reduce the feet of mortals to bloody shreds. Mina did not know if her slippers would survive.

"It's pretty," Meep said, looking around. "Probably everything here wants to kill us."

"I think most of it does not want anything," Mina said.

"It could very well still kill us, well, not us of course. Mortals." Del had stepped forward to look around.

"Which direction?"

Meep looked about and then pointed off towards where the trees grew thicker. "That way."

Mina took point again, watching the strange forest for threats.

Dark fruits hung from the branches of the trees, and black flowers grew in patches, here and there. She spotted small animals, squirrel like tree rodents, small, bright red birds that seemed to make nests inside of some of the dark fruit, but nothing that seemed particularly threatening.

It was Meep who spotted the first of the fairies; foot tall, naked women with short, spiky black hair and near translucent wings that whirred as they flew. A few of the small things drifted close at first, giving Mina a good look at them. Perfectly formed, tiny women, identical for the most part.

They debated if they might be dangerous until a few of them buzzed close by. Mina felt something like a feather being run over her skin and looked down to see a cut in her dress, above her breast. Razor sharp wings had slashed the the material, but had not been able to cut her skin.

"Annoying."

Meep closely watched as one zipped by her. It was hard to tell if the wings cut her clothing, as any slice would close up as soon as it was made. "Think they are intelligent?"

"That would be difficult to judge," Del said. "We would require a number of tests to decide that."

"Why?" Mina asked in response to Meep's question. Several fairies zipped by her, slicing her dress up some more. One came at her, tiny face twisting as its mouth opened to reveal huge (relatively) teeth. It tried to sink them into the bare skin between her skirt and stocking tops, but the teeth could not break the skin. She slapped it away.

"I want to see if they get the point." Meep turned, lashing out at one of the tiny fairies, one of her spiders on her wrist. The fairy darted away, but a scratch ran across its abdomen.

It looked cross.

Then its blood caught on fire and it screamed, flaming all the way the ground.

The other fairies sped away.

"Intelligent," Meep said.

"Oh, you can not base intelligence on that," Del said, sounding cross. "It might have been a scent it gave off when wounded."

"No matter, they are gone, for the moment." Mina fingered one of the rips in her cheongsam. "Bad for my clothing. Worse than moths."

"I'd like one in a little cage," Meep said.

"I think they would perish if you took them from this place," Dell told her.

"That's too bad. They remind of the dolls I always wanted when I was a little girl."

"I will make it a point to buy you some dolls," Mina told her, smiling, then continued deeper into the forest.

Some more of the fairies passed close by, but none of them coming closer than the reach of any of the women. Mina supposed they were watching; Scouts perhaps.

A loud screech sounded from ahead of them. There were words in it, but nothing that Mina recognized.

"I think that is Old Realm," Meep said.

"It is, it is," Del said. "Telling us to run so that it can savour our fear."

"I think we will show the screamer who should be afraid," Mina said, her serpent-sting staff ready.

Not long after they heard the sound of heavy foot steps coming towards them. The three women spread out, Mina making sure to keep Del in sight. If the woman was going to work against them, an attack would be a good time to do so.

The screamer came into sight, a woman, probably twelve feet tall, a match for the fairies, though her black hair was long, trailing on the ground, she lacked wings, and her build was much more muscular.

Another scream of words that Mina did not understand. A cloud of fairies came in behind the giant.

Mina moved forward to meet her, swinging her staff around, speeding the tip of it so fast that it made a cracking sound just before it slammed into the giant's shoulder. It rocked her slightly, and broke skin, but did not stop her, or break bones.

Her hair snaked out, moving on its own, strands of it wrapping around Mina's leg.

She had not expected prehensile hair.

It snapped her up into the air, spun her, and hurled her. She hit the ground, hard enough that the crystal grass was able to cut her skin, leaving thin lacerations all across her left side and shredding her dress so it fell away from her.

Mina kicked up to her feet, a moment's concentration to close the bleeding wounds and then she was moving back towards the battle. Meep was moving in, using the trees to avoid the giant's attack, and to climb above her. Del hurled both her chakram, the disks cutting deep into the giant, arching around through the cloud of fairies, killing many, and then spinning back, cutting the giant again before returning to Del's hands.

The wounds did not slow the giant who was charging Del.

Mina came in fast, her staff whipping out to catch the giant's ankle. She braced herself and pulled, tripping up the giant.

The giant however managed to kick the tangling staff from her leg, and rolled to its feet. Its hair flared around its head and then speared towards Mina. Ready for it, Mina batted it aside, catching it around one of her weapon's staves and then giving it a hard pull, tearing out a lank of the silky, black hair. The giant screeched.

Meep dropped down from a tree branch, cutting two deep crescents in its back. Flames blossomed from the wounds, like wings of fire, as the gaint's blood took flame. It screamed, twisting about to try to strike Meep, but Meep was like a shadow, and avoided the attack with contemptuous ease.

Del was not quiet so lucky, being close by, the giant managed to catch her around the neck in one of its large hands. It shook the Alchemical Exalt like a terrier with a rat, and Mina fully expected to hear the snap of bone. She sent her staff out, to wrap around the giant's arm, and pulled.

Proving more robust that Mina had feared, Del lifted one of her chakram and slashed it down across the giant's wrist. While not taking the hand off, it did loosen the grip, which, with Mina's attack, allowed Del to drop free.

Hair lashed out from the giant, like whips of steel wire. A few strands slipped through Mina's guard, leaving shallow but telling cuts across her skin. More hit Del, driving the Alchemical back as she parried the hair with her chakram. Meep escaped unscathed, simply never where the hair sought.

It would be a bad idea to make this into a battle of attrition, Mina could see that. The giant was enduring, and deadly. Best to end it fast.

Her staff snapped out behind her, trembling like a rattler's tail, and she swayed gracefully, the strands of hair passing her with little or no harm. Her skin took on a slight scaled look as the essence of the snake strengthened it. Golden essence flared around her for a moment, like the hood of a cobra.

When she moved it was sudden, uncoiling, serpent-sting staff extending, wrapping around the giant as Mina followed it. She drove a foot into the back of the giant's knee. It stumbled. Grasping handfuls of black hair, ignoring the fine lacerations they left in her hands, she climbed the giant, the coils of her staff undulating up the huge body, like a constrictor snake seeking its hold.

Then, with her feet planted firmly in the small of the giant's back, and her staff wrapped around the giant's torso, trapping arms, she pulled. The staves, like the teeth of a snake, bit through the giant's flesh, its blood pouring down its body. The staff was crushing the life from the giant woman, even as it cut her deeply.

The fairies swarmed around Mina, slicing at her with their wings, trying to bite her. It was a vast cloud, and some of the attacks managed to cut her, but she held on, pulling harder on her staff, holding tight as the giant threw itself back in an attempt to crush her.

MIna did not loosen her hold, but shifted around to avoid having the giant's weight come down on her.

Meep was there suddenly, her black widow razors slashing the giant across its eyes, flames erupting as the spiders pumped their poison into it. And Del, her chakram screaming as she drew them across the giant's throat.

Mina could feel the strength flowing from the body she held encased within the coil of her weapons, but she refused to loosen her hold, pulling even tighter so as to crush the ribs and grind them into lung.

The fairies were screeching, their attacks reaching a fever pitch, then, as Mina felt the great body die, the small forms fell from the air, hit the ground with soft 'thuds'.

Del moved in close and finished cutting the head from the giant, which Mina approved of; better to safe after all.

She rolled away from the body, then grabbed an end of her staff and pulled it free. Her clothing hung in tatters around her, and she was covered in blood from wounds that no longer bled.

"What a mess," she said.

"Here you go Mistress," Meep said, smiling. From her pack she had taken out a silk shift, a bottle of water and a small towel.

"Thank you Meep," Mina said, taking the water and towel to clean most of the blood from herself.

Meep knelt down and picked up one of the fairies. "Don't think they are dead."

"As long as they aren't up for a while. I don't need to have more clothing shredded."

Meep put the fairy down and returned to Mina's side, taking the water and blood stained towel from her as Mina pulled the shift on. The thin material offered little protection, but being naked made her feel vulnerable.

"Over here," Del called. She had wandered off to look about.

Mina and Meep went to where the woman stood, indicating a path through the woods. "It goes in the direction we want."

"Could lead to a village of those things," Meep said, looking back as the giant.

"I do not think so," Mina told her. "The trail does not look like that many things have used it."

Mina walked point, as before, her caste mark shone on her forehead. She hoped the fight had not undone all the weeks of being careful to mask their true natures. The uncapped demanse might be outside of the purview of fate just enough that their actions would go unheeded. She could hope.

After a time they came into a large clearing, that was very likely in the middle of the demanse. In the centre of the clearing grew a huge tree, the glow from its pink canopy almost painful to look on. A simple shelter, sized for the dead giant had been built under the canopy, and there were other sights of habitation there. A number of fairies flitted about the clearing, but they did not seem to be interested in the three women.

Curious, Mina crossed the clearing, looking at the shelter. Well made, a hammock was trussed up in the roof. No sight of fire pit or latrine. The thing had probably lived off the essence in the area, not needing to eat.

"We're not the first time come here," Meep said. She was standing near the huge tree.

Mina and Del went to where she stood. The tree sat within a bowl, amongst its visible roots were bones, mostly human, a vast number of them. There was the rusting steel of armour and weapons, as well as more lasting ones made of Chiaroscuro glass or jade alloys.

"Bad tree," Meep said.

Del slipped down into the bowl, grasping the hilt of a jade reaver daiklaive that she then pulled from the roots. "Quite the trove here," she said.

Mina nodded. "Maybe on the way back we'll loot it. Too much to carry. We'll spit it three ways."

Del looked the jade weapon over before putting it down on the crystal grass.

"Mistress," she said. "That's what Meep calls you."

Mina looked towards her. "What of it?"

"Doesn't that mean that Meep's share is ultimately yours?"

Mina frowned. "Do you really want to get into this now?" she demanded, some anger in her tone.

"What?" Del asked, seeming surprised. "No," she said a moment later, "I was not protesting the split. It was said in simple admiration. Having another Exalted serve you is quite useful."

Mina was a little surprised by that. "It is not like that," she protested. "Meep is not my slave."

Meep was smiling, apparently amused.

"And Meep and I split things equally."

Del nodded, smiling slightly as if to say, 'sure you do.'

Mina shook her head. "We have spent too much time here. It is time to go."

* * *

The tunnels and corridors grew more sterile at they left the demanse farther behind. An oasis of life, such as it was, in the middle of an industrial complex. The farther one was from it, the less there was for things to live on.

Meep took note of the change, but did not quite understand it, did not let it concern her. She focused on watching their back trail, and keeping an eye on Del. When necessary she opened locks that sealed various doors.

The area was not quite deserted, sometimes they passed signs of life, such as it was, but they never met anything. The closest they came was when they found a trail of slime that went into a hole in a wall. The slime seemed fresh enough that it was likely that whatever had left it was close.

They came around a corner and Meep had to stifle a gasp. Golden glass glowed with an inner light.

"Foundations of the buildings?" Mina said.

Meep nodded after a moment. "I think so."

"Then we have arrived."

"I had always wondered about the structure of the towers, but had not thought anything would survive. They built well." Del had moved away from them and was looking around.

"Where do we want to go?" Mina asked Meep.

Meep took a crystal book from her pack and brought up the map. She looked around, checking the map and their surrounding. "That way," she told Mina, pointing towards one of the many corridors that ran under the foundations.

It seemed to Meep that the golden glass towers, when they had still stood, had required a great deal more infrastructure than the rest of the city. That was the only way to explain the vast numbers of tunnels beneath them. Unless they were just a maze meant as a defence. She did find herself consulting her map more often.

Mina called a halt, before the entry way into a huge room. She looked about, as if trying to pierce the shadows. The lights illuminated the small areas of the floor, and the various exits from the hall, but most of the room was in darkness.

"Do we have another option? I do not like this." Mina looked towards Meep.

Meep pulled forth a crystal book and looked through the maps contained within. "Maybe, but," she paused, "we'd have to leave this area and circle around through the outer city."

Mina looked back into the shadows. "This is a choke point, or it could be. If anyone meant to protect this area they would funnel everyone in here."

Del peaked around, looking into the room. Her eyes 'whirred', it was the only way to explain it, as if there were clockworks within them. "I see essence flows, but I don't understand them."

"Meep, get one of the flares out."

"Right." From her backpack she took a wooden tube. Uncapping it revealed padding within that held a glass tube. Meep fished it out and handed it to Mina. "We don't have any goggles for Del." She pulled out two pairs of goggles from the pack.

"I do not have need for such devices. My eyes already have the ability to compensate for such things."

"Lucky you," Meep said, and handed Mina a pair of the goggles before putting her own on. Made of Chiaroscuro glass, meant to protect the wearer's eyes from the sun and blowing sands out in the desert, they also where useful when dealing with sudden, intense light changes.

"Are you ready?" Mina asked.

"Good to go," Meep said.

"Please continue," Del told her.

It was hard to see, in the darkness. with the goggles over her eyes. She saw Mina's shadowy form strike the glass tube against the wall, and the soft glow that appeared within. Then Mina tossed it into the room and a moment later it blossomed into a bright flash of light.

A vast portion of the room was revealed for a few seconds, as the flare gave off its brightest light. On the floors and walls and even ceiling mosaics made from white and golden glass made the pattern of a vast spider web, and clinging to the ceiling, terribly close to where they stood, was a vast spider.

The light picked out the metal of its body, steel alloyed with black jade, though there were other metals, moonsilver and orichalcium, and jade of other colours. On the spider's back was the golden symbol of of the Twilight sun.

The spider dropped to the floor, twisting to land on its feet. Meep had never seen a creature so big; the abdomen the size of a full grown yeddim, the cephalothorax the size of an ox. And the legs just added to that terrifying size.

"You should..." Del said, but Mina had grabbed the woman and pushed her deeper back into the corridor as she and Meep retreated into it as well.

The spider started screaming. "Traitors! Usurpers! Trespassers!"

Meep thought that terrible, screeching voice was nearly as bad as the spider itself. She tore off her goggles, for the light was fading quickly, and scared herself for a moment as her own spiders had crawled down her arms ready for a fight.

Fleeing deeper into the corridor Meep thought they would be safe, for the vast spider could never get into it, but it surprised her, for one of its legs, tipped in a razor barb the size of a great sword, reached in after then and slashed at them.

Mina just managed to block the attack, but the force of it drove her back into the wall, hard enough to knock the wind from her. Meep leapt forward, lashing at the leg with her black window razor, drawing scratches across the metal, but not damaging it.

With a shuddering breath Mina pushed the leg away from her and spun back, avoiding another slash.

"How are we going to get by that?" Mina gasped out.

"Well..." Dell said.

"Traitors!" the spider screamed, and its leg grew longer as another sweep drove them back.

"I've no clue," Meep said. "Maybe I can sneak by it, find a way to turn it off."

"Listen..." Del said.

"Usurpers!" the spider screamed.

"That might work."

"Listen you idiots," Del yelled, stepping between Meep and Mina. "Who do you think put that spider there?"

"Trespassers will die!" the spider screamed.

"Who cares?" Meep answered.

"No," Mina said. "On its back. Solars put it there."

Another attack made them retreat a few more steps.

"That is correct. Solars put that guardian there. So is its assigned task to attack Solars?"

Mina turned. "That would be unlikely."

"Oh no Mina, you can't be thinking of..."

Mina turned her gaze on Meep. "You are not telling me what to do, are you?"

Meep swore softly under her breath, and then, "No Mistress."

"Good." Her caste mark lit up on her forehead, bright and pure, and she turned towards the spider and started walking forward.

The spider stopped screaming.

The leg moved back as Mina advanced.

"It was a construct built for a specific task, it is a servant." Del told Meep. "It is a little like you."

Meep looked at the Alchemical Exalt, wondering it that was a jab, but then followed after Mina, worried the spider was about to attack again, that it was just playing with them.

Mina walked out into the hall.

The spider waited patiently.

"Trai... Usu..." The spider seemed uncertain, then screamed, "Abandoned!" and rose up above Mina.

Meep was two steps into the room when Mina called out, "Stop!"

Both Meep and the spider stopped.

"You have served well," Mina said, stepping closer to the spider. "I am pleased with you."

Meep watched, amazed, as the spider lowered itself.

"You have my apologies for making you wait so long," Mina said, moving closer to the spider, as if she had nothing to fear. She put a hand on part of the leg, heedless of the danger. "You have done all that was asked of you, and will continue to do so."

The spider lowered itself, like some obedient puppy, placing its eyes and pedipalps close to Mina. Mina reached out and placed a hand on the black metal of the fang, metal that could only be soulsteel. "Thank you my master," the spider said in a voice that was, now that it was not screeching, melodic.

"The Solars of old built well, it is quite an impressive piece of work," Del told Meep.

The spider moved slightly, turning its attention to Del and Meep. "Trespassers," it said, not quite screeching.

"No," Mina said, and turned the spiders attention back to her. "Meep, show it your caste mark."

Meep, as obedient as the spider, did as Mina told her.

The spider seemed to relax slightly on seeing the golden glow on Meep's forehead.

"The other is a servant, under our protection while with us."

"I understand Master," the spider told her.

"Maintain your watch in this place," Mina said. "Stop all but Solars and those identified to serve them."

"I will master." The spider looked at Mina for a moment, then shifted, skittered across the floor, disturbingly silent for such a large construct, and then up a wall. Lights bloomed around the spider, illuminating it, until it reached a far corner where hundreds of things hung from the ceiling.

"Those that were captured by the spider, kept here," Del said.

Meep thought of all those dead bodies, hanging there over the ages.

"I suppose normally kept prisoner until authorities arrive," Mina said. "Effective, assuming they are checked up on."

Above them the spider slashed open one of the pods, removed something golden from the interior, then spun new threads to seal the pod.

It returned quickly, bowing before Mina, presenting a golden and silver, grand daiklaive, set with a yellow gem that glowed with an inner light.

"This was used by an usurper who tried to pass by, claiming to be a Solar. He was only a terrestrial," there was anger in the spider's tone, "and I killed him."

"As was right," Mina said, taking the sword. "You will hold the rest until a proper investigation is carried out."

"Of course master."

"Good work," Mina said, and turned and walked away from spider, towards an exit on the far side of the hall.

Meep followed, circling wide around the spider, catching up to Mina as she reached the exit. Looking back she saw the spider creeping up the wall.

"I almost feel bad for it," Meep said.

"That is an unnecessary feeling," Del said. "The construct is doing what it was meant to, and it has had its existence justified and authorized by one of its makers. To a construct there is nothing that could provide more pleasure."

"It is good to know that," Mina said. "It seemed very loyal."

"As loyal as the Solars of old could build it."

"At least we don't have to worry about anything coming up from behind," Meep said.

* * *

The lift was operable but locked.

"I'll get it open," Meep said, taking a step forward.

"Why are you choosing to pursue a path that makes your life more difficult?" Del asked.

Mina turned to look at the Alchemical Exalt, curious.

"What'd you mean?" Meep asked her.

Del stepped forward and put her hand on a circular patch. "This is a caste mark reader. Do you think the Solar's of old wanted to carry keys with them everywhere they went?"

Meep frowned, looked at the tools her black suit had provided, then let them be absorbed back into the material. She stepped forward, looked to Mina, then made her caste mark glitter. She moved closer to the place that Del had indicated, shifting up onto her toes. As soon as the light of the caste mark fell upon the reader there was a soft 'click' and the doors to the lift slid back.

"Seems a little unfair," Meep said as she stepped through the doors.

Mina watched as Meep removed the knives and laid them out on the lift's floor, putting them down so as to create the map etched on their blades. "I think," she put a finger on an old realm character, "that his is the floor we want."

"That does seem likely," Del said, who had watched studiously as Meep worked.

Mina looked at the lift controls. "Then this button." She pressed it.

The doors slid shut and the lift ascended.

It did not take long to reach the floor. The doors slid open on a long corridor with many cross branches. Mina had placed herself in the front of the doors, ready for an attack, but nothing threatened them.

"What do you think Meep?"

Meep looked at the knives laying on the floor, then scooped them up. "I know the way. Let's go."

It was a maze, corridors branching and crossing, odd turns, and every part of it looking exactly the same. Mina remained on point, with Meep directing her in which turns they should take.

"Do you think that there are valuable items behind all of these doors?" Del asked, indicating one of the many vault doors they had passed.

"I wouldn't do it that way," Meep told her. "Most of the rooms I'd put traps in."

"That seems wasteful, to use space that way."

Mina wondered about the world that Del came from as she looked down one of the cross corridors. "We do not lack space."

"Yes, I suppose that there is that. A different paradigm."

Twice Meep laid the knives out, to make sure they were still on the right track.

"We're here," Meep said, stopping in front of a door.

Mina looked at the door, reaching out and putting a hand on it. "Does not look like a caste mark will open this one." She put the daiklaive she had been carrying aside, leaning it up against the wall.

"That's why we have this," Meep said, taking out the golden sphere.

"Does that provide a digram of the lock?" Del asked.

"Yeah," Meep said, turning the sections.

"Does that mean there was no key?"

"Can you think of a better way to keep it secure?"

Del looked at Meep for a few seconds. "Interesting."

Meep looked at the sphere for a time, then the lock on the door. She turned the top of the sphere slightly and nodded. "Perfect."

Once she had placed the sphere on the ground she went to work on the lock, slipping her tools into the mechanism. Minutes passed with her making tiny movements, small shifts of her fingers. Her caste mark, already glittering from earlier, began to glow by the time the bolts slid back with a heavy 'thunk'.

Meep flexed her fingers and smiled up at Mina. "There we go."

"Good girl," Mina said, patting Meep's head. "Well, this looks like it is the end of it." She pulled the door open. It was heavy, and thick, and Mina had to give it a hard yank to get it moving.

It was dark within, until the door swung fully back and then lights came on.

"Foolish mortals," a voice echoed from within, "for daring to rebel against your betters... Oh, a Solar."

Mina had come around the door, pushing Meep aside, weapon ready, was brought up short by the last words spoken, and what she saw within. A tall man, gaunt, his body covered in what first looked like wounds, but were in fact tiny, toothed maws. He, for he looked masculine, was handsome, chest bare, clothed in a cape and a kilt. In his hands he carried a pair of large, ivory knives.

Serpent-sting staff snapped out, Mina faced him.

He regarded her for a moment, but his gaze turned to Meep. "Solar, I take it you have come to recover what is here?"

"Speak to me," Mina said as her caste mark lit up on her forehead.

"Two Solars," he said.

"Who are you?" Mina asked.

The being turned his full attention to her. "I was called to guard this place against the lessers who would dare to work against the actions of their betters. It was a Solar who put me to this task, it is now a Solar who frees me from it."

"You've been sitting in this vault for hundred of years?" Meep asked, shifting around to get a better look. "You're a demon, right?"

It gave Meep a haughty look. "Five days ago I knew there was a possibility of this door opening, so I came. Only twice before has this happened. Both those times nothing came of it."

Mina noticed that Del had stepped away from the door, apparently not wanting to see the demon, or not wanting to be seen by it.

"The demands made of me end. I will leave."

"Who are you?" Meep asked, echoing Mina's earlier question. "I'm Meep."

The strange being smiled, a twist of the lips. "I am called Lucien."

Mina thought that was all he would say, and there seemed to be a lessening, as if he was about to fade away, but he turned his gaze to Mina and smiled. "We share a similar hatred. If you would like to pursue it, give me six lives of the traitors we hate and call my name."

A moment later Lucien was gone, as if he had never never been there.

Del peeked around. "Demons," she said, shaking her head.

Meep moved into the vault, looking about, then stepped up to the table on which a single item sat. Lucien's presence had taken her attention away from the real reason they were there. Mina followed Meep in.

On the table was a rod, about the size of a man's forearm, made of orichahlcium, capped in adamant, covered in moonsilver tracery.

"What is it?" Meep asked, poking it with a probe that extended from suit.

"Weapon maybe?" Mina suggested.

"That is a reality vault," Del said, excitement in her tone.

Mina shifted her attention to the Alchemical Exalt, wondering if the woman would now make a play for the reality vault, or whatever it was.

"What's a reality vault?" Meep asked, giving it another poke.

Del was starting at the device, but did not seem as if she was going to make a grab for it.

"I have never actually seen one myself," Del told Meep, "but I have heard them described in technical manuals. It is said that the Eight Divine Ministers have created such vaults in times of uncertainty, that if a reality vault were to be opened it could restore all of Autochthon to the state at which the vault was locked. They are considered to be very difficult to create or use." Her voice had grown louder, excitement obvious. "To think that the Solars had the ability to fabricate such a device, truly they were amazing."

"So, we open this and the world goes back to how it was?" Meep asked her.

"What? No, no, no, no." She shook her head. "That is very unlikely. Creation and the Great Maker have vastly different morphic levels. I doubt that even this city might be restored by such a vault."

"So what's it good for?"

Del said nothing for a few second, looking at the vault, and then, "I do not know."

"We know who can tell us what it is for," Mina said, picking up the reality vault. It was heavier than it looked, but manageable. "Give me one of the bags and a strap."

Mina put the reality vault into the bag, used draw strings to secure it, then used the strap to hang it over her shoulder. "Time to go."

Meep closed and locked the door behind them, then lead them back the way they had come.

* * *

Having made the journey once, the return trip was faster. The knew the lay of the land, as it were. In the spider chamber Mina took the time to praise the construct and let it know that in all the centuries it had been on guard only twice had there even been the possibility that anyone would get by it.

The spider seemed quite pleased.

In the demanse they took the time to search amongst the roots of the central tree. While much of the jade or glass weapons and armour held little interest for them, they all discovered a few small things that caught their attention. Del found a pair of blue jade chakram that she remarked would be a little less obvious than her clockwork ones. Meep found a translucent, cobalt-blue sphere that she was certain was a hearthstone.

All of them took away a small fortune of silver and jade coins; discovered amongst the roots in rotting money pouches.

On the way out Meep thought she saw one of the fairies, grown three feet tall, wings withered at her back, and hair dropping to her waist. It made her wonder if the demanse was replacing its guardian.

At the stairway that would lead them back to the subway tunnels Del looked at the dead body of the beast that had attacked Meep and Mina earlier. 'All you needed was to show your caste marks and it probably would have let you pass unharmed.'

She sounded sad.

In the tunnels above they parted company.

* * *

The huge glass, breakwaters of Chiaroscuro were one of the primary reasons the city, even where reduced to ruins, remained a vibrant trading port. Over twenty square miles of ocean was protected by the breakwaters; safe harbour in even the worst of storms.

Any day saw hundreds of ships sailing through the harbour: from the vast galleons and carracks of the Guild, and the warships from many nations, including the Realm, to small fishing boats.

Unremarked among the many ships was a two masted, fifty foot sloop, well appointed; a pleasure craft rather than a working ship. Lights glowed from behind glass windows and ports, and lanterns where hung about the outside of the ship. Its sails down, the ship anchored, it rocked gently in the mild swell of the harbour.

Earlier, as the sun had set, a jolly boat had carried two women out to the ship. The few who chose to give that any attention had assumed that the master of the ship had sent for company.

In the ship Mina and Meep sat at a table while Tristan, wearing a black suit, though he had removed his jacket, poured them drinks, filling crystal tumblers with an amber liquid. On the table, amongst the glasses was the reality vault.

"Well then, shall we drink to a successful endeavour ladies?"

Mina took her glass, took a small drink from it, enjoyed the taste. She placed her glass down. "What did we need to find a reality vault for?"

"So you are aware as to what this is.?"

Meep put her glass down. "An Alchemical Exalt from Autochthon told us what it was."

"An Alchemical Exalt from Autochthon?"

"Did we stump you?" Meep asked.

Tristan smiled. "I cannot admit to knowing exactly what you mean, but I am aware of Autochthon, though I have never heard him referred to as a place."

"So what is Autochthon?" Mina asked.

Tristan topped up their drinks, speaking as he did so. "Autochthon was one of the Primordials who brought Creation about. He was one of the two Primordials who turned on the others when the gods launched their war against their creators. He disappeared long ago."

"Maybe back now?" Meep asked.

"I believe that were Autochthon to have returned to Creation there would be little doubt."

"And Alchemical Exalts?" Mina swirled the contents of her glass.

"That is beyond my knowledge I am afraid."

"Very well," Mina said, and leaned across the table. "Explain this game of yours that had us fetch the reality vault."

"It was no game, let me assure you."

"You played this much like one, sending us chasing after a goal you were already aware of."

"Yeah," Meep said, "not very nice." One of her spiders had climbed down her arm and rested on her hand.

"I believe that you ladies are threatening me."

Mina leaned back. "Not at all, we just want you to know were are serious."

Meep nodded as she stoked her fingers over her spider.

"I will duly note your seriousness then. And I will tell you that I knew less than you seem to think."

"What did you know?"

He brushed his hands across his goatee. "That the Usurpation was successful is somewhat amazing. Hiding it from the Solars should have been impossible, but with the help of various gods whose purview was such matters, and through distraction, it was concealed, until the day the trap was sprung.

"The Solars who were not at Meru, and who survived the attempts on their lives, which was a good number, were able to discern exactly what was happening."

He finished the contents of his glass and then poured himself another, offering to both Mina and Meep before continuing.

"In Chiaroscuro there was a Solar, an Eclipse Caste, a man very interested in justice. He put together the entire scope of the Usurpation from the clues he had, and he knew that the Sidereals had already put in place what they needed to escape justice. The Murder of a Celestial Exalt was and still remains a crime."

"How'd they avoid justice?" Meep asked him.

"They broke a star constellation, the Mask. Everyone knows what happened, no one could prove it."

"Oh."

Tristan nodded. "Knowing that the criminals would escape justice maddened him. He would not let it stand. He prepared something." Tristan put his hand on the vault. "As I told you, a secret is always the purview of Secrets, so the Eclipse told two people before his ultimate death. He sent messages of what he had done; one this his Lunar mate, the other to a Sidereal he trusted."

"You?" Meep held up her empty glass.

Tristan shook his head. "No," he filled Meep's glass, "but she held my Exaltation before me, and this knowledge came to me."

"What did you know?" Mina asked him.

"I knew that hidden under a field of golden glass was something that would bring all the conspirators behind the Usurpation to justice. I did not know exactly where it might be found beyond that. I did not know that it was a reality vault, and I cannot tell you what will happen when you open it." He paused. "You have not opened it."

"Not yet," Meep told him.

"What do you think will happen?"

"I think the truth will come out. I think that those who have hidden from their crimes will be forced to face the consequences of them. I think there will be a quiet civil war in Yu-Shan, one of assassinations and slander and political back biting, so business as usual really."

He took his cigarette case from his pocket, fitted a cigarette into its holder and then lit it. "I think," he told them, teeth lightly clenched around holder, "that you are going to put true fear into the minds and hearts of a great number of powerful beings."

"Us?"

"This is, when all is said and done, Solar business. It is up to you to decide how and when to use it. The Lunar mate and I may not have agreed on much, but that was one area we came to full agreement on." He blew a cloud of smoke into the space above the table. "Whether the Usurpation was right or wrong, those who engineered it should have been willing to face the consequences of their actions. To put it simply, they need to face their punishment, and you Mina my dear, are the best person I can think of to assure punishment."

"Burn," Meep said softly in a sing-song voice.

"Oh Meep my dear, your bottom will be burning soon enough."

As if to change the subject Meep picked up the reality vault with both hands. "How long till those powerful beings know that we have this?"

"Hard to say for certain, I am a little surprised they are not currently aware of it. You have weeks, months perhaps, not years."

"This," she rocked the reality vault in her hands, "makes us a target, but it'll also keep us safe, 'cause they'll be afraid if the move on us that we'll open it."

Tristan nodded.

"So now we have to decide when to use it," Mina said, taking it out of Meep's hands. "How bad will it be in Yu-Shan? Will this weaken Creation?"

"It will be bad, but if I am to be honest with you, the gods that will most be involved in the political machinations that you will engender are the ones the least involved in Creation, and whose ultimate destruction or demotion would probably make Creation that much safer."

Mina nodded. "I will wait until it is tactically sound to use this then."

"Exactly as I would expect from a Dawn," Tristan said, and then lifted his glass. "Cheers."

* * *

Afterward

Meep and Mina were character concepts that I had placed in Chiaroscuro, but other than a Dawn and a Night who were pals, I really did not know much about them.

When I got requests as parts of reviews from other stories to provide more background information on the Exalted world, to write something in Chiaroscuro and to introduce some Alchemical Exalts, this is what came together in my head.

Hopefully with Meep and Mina being a lot less setting savvy than the characters in my other stories I was able to better explain the world for those who were not familiar with it.

As a side note, Onyx Path Publishing is planning a Third Edition of Exalted, and will be launching a Kickstater for it soon (today's date is April 16, 2013). I think there might be some changes to the setting. If so I will probably not rewrite existing stories to match it, but future stories may use the Third Edition setting as opposed to the second if I think they are really cool.


End file.
